


Love, Starships, and Botany

by VulcanPerihelion



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek Beyond - Fandom, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Botany, Enterprise life, M/M, Starfleet Academy, Starfleet life, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, bless Star Trek Beyond for finally putting gays in space, everyone loves plants, gays in space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7559908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulcanPerihelion/pseuds/VulcanPerihelion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Hikaru Sulu met his husband Ben, brought together by their love of plants. From their time at Starfleet Academy, to the events of Star Trek Beyond: how they met, how they fell in love, and the life they built together. <3</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gertrude

**Author's Note:**

> Hello fellow Trekkies! <3 K so Star Trek Beyond destroyed me and consumed my soul and also left me with massive headcanons for our dear Sulu and how he met his huband, Ben, back at Starfleet Academy, and their whole history together.
> 
> I will be updating the next chapter really soon!! :)
> 
> Enjoy~!

Starfleet Academy was always charged with an electric energy, lining the air like the static from a lightning strike during a thunder storm. Life at the Academy flowed swiftly, passionately, every single person driven by their dreams and goals, their gaze ever tied to the stars. The mind of every student, human or otherwise, functioned off of hope, belief in humanity, and both awe and fear of what none of us have yet come to understand in this universe. Through the massively rigorous Starfleet training regimen-- the long days and longer nights, the endless codes and regulations to learn, the simulations to master, the endless knowledge to consume-- everyone persevered because of the same core belief, always glowing in the back of their mind: hope. That was what Starfleet was founded on: hope, and a belief in the true good that lies in our universe. And through it all, Starfleet brought everyone together to pursue that goodness and fulfill the curiosity of us all that lays waiting for us in the stars.

But of course, everyone has passions that lie right here on Earth, as well. Passions that keep us sane when we’re at our most overwhelmed. And even Starfleet students, despite the overwhelming academic consumption of their lives, managed to pursue an endless array of hobbies in their off hours, an assortment spanning the entirety of the cultures and races throughout the Federation. Some students joined the school orchestra, a sprawling and beautiful collection of instruments from across the galaxy, where one could see an Earthen clarinet playing beside a Bajoran tivara. Other students joined sports teams, or found themselves tied up in Friday night Parrises Squares tournaments in which at least one student inevitably ended up in the infirmary with some sprained limb or such. Some buried themselves in books further, putting down their massive technical schematics only to pick up a thick book full of Andorian poetry, or to work on translating an ancient Vulcan scripture they picked up in the reference library. Passion fed everyone’s lives, even in their free hours.

Hikaru Sulu spent his free time with his plants. Sulu’s dorm was a miniature botanical garden, lined with florae in an array of sizes, colors, and shapes, from an array of worlds. They lined his window sill and sat nestled between books on his slightly cluttered shelves, poking out green and bright between scattered papers, old books, and softly illuminated PADDs. Botany was the quiet, calm constant to Sulu amid the insanity of his academy career. When pilot simulations kept him busy until 2 AM, and he would come stumbling into his darkened dorm and face-plant onto his bed with a soft grunt, wanting to think of nothing, nothing at all, wanting to close his eyes and forget the world, his plants would silently call out to him, the one thing that was just simple when nothing else was. He could feel their gentle presence in the room, soft and bright even in nothing but the moonlight. And instead of forgetting the world, instead of closing his eyes to hide from the world until the next day, he would sleepily slide off of his bed and wander over to each of his plants, touching their textured leaves, running his hand down their long tumbling vines, admiring the bright pigments and patterns, some so vivid and magnificent that they truly had to be from another planet. 

And as he tended to them, he would be reminded why he never wanted to forget the world. Why, at the end of a long hard day, when he felt impossibly wrung out or frustrated to the point of tears, why he never wanted to just close his eyes to the world. They reminded him of the beauty of life, of the reasons why he pursued Starfleet in the first place. Their silent contrast against his thrilling life somehow mirrored his uncontainable passion as he helmed a ship. Amid the chaos, they symbolized the hope and love for life that he lived for.

 

~

Sulu woke up with a start. Light shone into Sulu’s small dorm through the long, wide window, filtering through the reaching and climbing leaves of the many plants on the sill. He was sprawled out onto his bed on his stomach, his head turned to the side, his cheek pressed firmly against a PADD that had long since set itself to sleep mode. Books, slightly-crinkled notes and papers, and several PADDs were strewn across the disheveled bed, the white sheets crinkled and unmade. 

Sulu had knocked out in the middle of a study session that stretched late into night, later than he had intended. Despite the probably unhealthy levels of caffeine he had consumed to try to push through the night, he hadn’t lasted long, and found himself collapsed on top of all his notes and materials.

He squinted, blinking against the soft mid-morning light. Sulu grunted and began to sit up, peeling the PADD off his face, mumbling a quiet “ew” as he wiped the drool off of it. He sat there for a moment, the indentation of the PADD etched into the side of his face, looking blearily around his room, trying to check his mental calendar and take stock of what needed to happen and just when it was.

Today is…..Thursday, he thought to himself, rubbing his eyes. He had a flight simulation exam at 15 hundred hours today, he remembered, an exam that the thought of had been yanking at his anxiety for weeks now. He had a few hours left before then, enough time to change, eat, and maybe catch a last practice run in the simulation lab before the exam. 

His third year of Starfleet was still enormously trying and heavily demanding, to put it mildly, but it was nothing like First Year, when they push everyone to near-breaking point to weed out those who aren’t serious about Academy. He had grown a hell of a lot in the last two years, forced to learn his own limits, but also all that he was capable of. He had become more comfortable with himself, growing as much personally as he had academically.

No matter what, though, trying to pull all-nighters like this was killer.

He sat on the edge of his bed, still in his full academy uniform from yesterday, now wrinkled and slightly askew. Light stubble stained his face. His hair was tousled and dented from sleep. Sulu reached over to a mug on his bedside table and took a sip of yesterday’s coffee, bitter and cold, looking for any kind of jolt. He downed the mug, grimacing slightly (coffee had never been his favorite; simply an academy necessity) and then wandered into his small bathroom, unbuttoning his uniform shirt and dropping it on the floor. He used the toilet, then showered, shaved, and brushed his teeth. And once he felt somewhat alive again, his eyes bright and face clean, it was time to give his plants their morning care. 

He grabbed the watering canister from atop a messy pile of notes, and went around his small room to each other plants, giving them their necessary water intake. He said soft hellos to them, prodded and rearranged their soil with his finger, turned them to face the sun at just the right angle. He chuckled as he uncovered a small succulent that had been buried underneath his notes during the flurry of last night’s academic frenzy. “Sorry about that,” he said with a smile, moving the small plant to sit on the windowsill.

He had had each of these plants for years. Some of them he had known for longer than his best friends. He had brought them with him from home to Starfleet, never a day passing that he didn’t have contact with them. He talked to them, told them things he would tell no one else. They were there to hear about his first crush. They were around for his high school graduation. They were there when he got accepted into Starfleet. They knew him intimately and were the best secret-keepers in the world. And he knew them intimately as well. He knew their needs, their quirks, their unique, quiet personalities. He took pride in caring for them and knowing them so deeply. From his smallest Succulent plant to his strangest and most alien florae, they were his daily delight. 

And as he went began to finish the morning rounds, there was one more plant to care for, his pride and joy, his biggest botanical achievement: a large and elegant carnivorous weeper plant, fondly named Gertrude. It was nearly a meter tall with a thick, strong stalk and deep green, thick leaves, topped by a violently-pink carnivorous flower. It had large thick cilia-like protrusions that looked and acted almost like fingers, grabbing any bugs that flew near or anything that Sulu fed it. He had never met a plant so sensitive and fastidious as Gertrude, and it took the most time out of any of his beloved plants. But he loved every minute of it, ever looking forward to seeing its daily quirks.

And as he walked over to it, smiling pleasantly to himself, he caught sight of Gertrude, and his heart dropped. The plant had gone limp, leaning loosely against the hot glass of the window. The pink petals had turned to a chalky pastel tone, and the normally-rigid fingers of the petals were drooping.

“No no no no no no no,” Sulu cried out, rushing to grab the plant’s soft limbs and gently hold them upright. Sulu’s face had gone pale, distraught, tears threatening to well up as he looked at the mess that was his beloved plant. His mind raced over all the things he might have done wrong. Too much water? Too much time in the sun? Did I give it a bug that made it sick or something?? His mind raced and slid into despair. He felt like a parent who had failed their child. Guilt churned in his stomach and his throat felt tight.

Sulu scrambled to set the plant upright, tying the stem to thin wooden posts like a splint on a broken limb. Sulu threw on his uniform, lovingly wrapped the base of his plant in a towel, and rushed out of his dorm with Gertrude, barely thinking. All he thought was that maybe the botany lab in the bio department could help him, and he was going to try, for sure. 

 

The sight of Sulu rushing across campus in a slightly disheveled uniform, carrying a large towel-wrapped plant, was odd and entirely endearing. 

“Come on, Gerty,” he said to it quietly, forcefully, trying to walk as gently but quickly as possible, one hand beneath the pot and another supporting the drooping flower. The thick fingers of the plant slowly reached out of the towel and gently grabbed at Sulu’s hand beside it, still searching for food even in its comatose state. The lump in Sulu’s throat got bigger, and he swallowed, fighting the tears in his eyes. It was like a child’s hand, reaching for the comfort of a parent. It crossed Sulu’s mind, amid his internal chaos, that perhaps he never realized until now just how invested in these plants he truly was.

It felt like ages, painful, slow ages, before he made it to the botany lab across campus. His arms ached from carrying the heavy plant. When the clear glass sliding doors of the lab opened, he peered inside and peeked around, looking for an attendant. It was currently during odd hours; most people were in class. But he prayed that someone would be there for him.

 

There was a single lab assistant in the botany lab, and his eye was caught by the lone student with a strange plant standing in the doorway, looking distressed. The man peered over the microscope he was looking into and stared at the student for a moment, stricken, taken by the sight of him. The student glanced around the room, presumably looking for him. The lab attendant stood up, and Sulu finally noticed him. They stared at each other. Sulu’s aching heart suddenly began to beat a little faster.


	2. Ben

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (...I saw Star Trek Beyond a second time today. Destroyed me all over again :') <3
> 
> Anyways, time to meet Future Husband!!! Enjoy, guys :D
> 
> ~Chapter 3 coming asap!~

The botany lab attendant was a tall Japanese man, with broadly-sloping, muscled shoulders and a gentle face with soft features. His eyes were kind and charming, twinkling as he smiled. Sulu’s gaze was caught in the bright smile of the man that walked toward him, his eyes tangled in the man’s movements, the details of his face, his hands, his legs. His strides were long and lean, and he moved gently and fluidly, his sleek white lab coat falling at his sides. Sulu took in more and more of the man as he walked towards him. The mole on his temple. A tiny chink of hair missing from one of his eyebrows. The shape of is teeth. The color of his eyes. All of these details. They were somehow….perfect.

It took Sulu a moment to register that the stunning man, now standing in front of him, had spoken to him, smiling gently, awaiting a response.

Sulu stared up at him and blinked. “Ahh, hi,” Sulu mumbled, blinking, a slight smile staining his lips.

The man smiled back. “Hi,” he said, beaming at Sulu again. “You, ah… your….” He wordlessly gestured to the odd, pink-toweled object in Sulu’s arms. “….plant?” he managed.

Sulu blinked at him again, the man’s words not registering immediately. Plant…

Sulu was shaken back into reality, shocked at himself for losing his head for a moment. “Plant!” he clumsily blurted out, thrusting Gertrude out in front of him. He moved his hands to support the base of the pot and the towel slipped, and in only a tiny moment, Gertrude began to slip out of Sulu’s grasp, plummeting toward the cold lab floor.

Time moved in slow motion for Sulu, a moment that stretched out within its own space and filled with helpless understanding and regret. He acted as fast as he could, lunging toward the helpless plant, but the lab assistant’s hands were already wrapped gently around the plant before Sulu realized what was happening. They both squatted there, unmoving, frozen. They both had their hands supporting Gertrude, and moved in unison to place it on the nearest counter. As soon as it was on solid ground, Sulu rolled his eyes back in his head and let out a massive sigh of relief and frustration.

“Thank you… so much,” Sulu let out, weakly and defeated, entirely frustrated with himself.

The lab assistance chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry, it’s not the first time I’ve had to catch falling plants.” He smiled at Sulu. 

Sulu smiled back, and looked down at his feet, laughing lightly. His mind flashed to an image of this man charming every single person that comes into the lab, capturing young hearts by saving everyone’s falling plants, like this was some move he put on vulnerable students seeking help for their sick plants. 

“I’ve nearly dropped many plants myself, in just my two years here,” the man continued. 

Ohh, Sulu thought to himself, feeling surprisingly relieved by this clarification and even more foolish as his strangely bitter mental images shattered. 

Sulu looked back up to him and caught the man’s gaze resting on him, with gentle eyes, which he quickly pried off of Sulu and laid on the plant. He raised his eyebrows and took a deep breath.

“So!” he said to Sulu. “What have we got here?” The man unwrapped the towel from the drooping plant.

Sulu cleared his throat. “This is Gertrude.” He smiled fondly at it, like a parent admiring a child. “It’s a carnivorous weeper, it’s about, ah…” he paused and did mental math, “11 years old, and it’s always been entirely stable and healthy up… up until now. I’ve never seen it like this. I’ve--,” he swallowed. “I’ve been taking care of it regularly, keeping the same routine, the same care….”

The man watched Sulu closely, and he could see the pain creeping up onto his face, the strain in his voice, the mist in his eyes growing as it got harder and harder for him to keep going. His heart ached for this fellow student standing before him. He felt drawn to him, tied to him somehow. It took everything he had not to sigh aloud while watching him.

“I’m sure it was nothing you did wrong,” he said to Sulu. Sulu’s eyes snapped to meet his gaze, hope pouring out of them now.

“…Are you sure?” Sulu muttered, his voice tight.

“Yeah, for sure. If it’s had no problems till now,” the man examined the plant, looking at its leaves and prodding the slowly-moving finger-like petals, “I’m sure it’s just sick. We all get sick sometimes.” He grabbed a clipboard for a nearby drawer and began scribbling things down. “Judging by the discoloration on the underside of the leaves, I’m thinking it has a bacterial infection of some kind. Could have even picked it up from a fly it ate.”

Sulu’s eyes followed the man’s gaze, his face beaming with hope now. “Really??! So….Gerty’s gonna be okay??”

“Gerty’s gonna be okay,” he affirmed, grinning, pausing his examination of the plant to admire the glowing face of this miraculous student beaming at him. So full of love and passion and beauty, he marveled to himself.

He let himself stare for longer than he meant to and shook himself out of it, his head going blank and foggy, filled with the infecting presence of this new person in his lab. “Maybe leave him here for the next couple days and I can determine the exact illness and start treatment.” He fiddled with the clipboard in his hands.

Sulu laughed and smiled, nodding, relief flooding through him. He somewhat flailed about for a moment, throwing his hands up to his cheeks, wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his brow, basking in the relief, his muscles finally loosening up and his heart clearing up of despair.

The man watched Sulu in awe, charmed by his every movement, enraptured by his smile, captured by his movement and his freeness. Who was this magnificent cadet that has walked into his lab and his life?

Sulu turned to the man with an outstretched hand, suddenly sober. “I cannot thank you enough,” Sulu said, with the deepest sincerity in his voice, looking into the man’s eyes with an intense appreciation and respect.

He shook Sulu’s hand, caught and held by his gaze. They stayed like that quite a while, their hands linked, the air between them practically vibrating with the intensity of their locked stare. Their eye contact was as sharp as a blade. The room was silent beside the tick of the clock, the quiet hum of machinery, and their steady breaths.

Sulu’s heart pounded in his ears and his head threatened to fog over as he looked at the man standing across from him, but he tried to shake himself out of it. “By the way, I’m Su--” he shook his head. “Hikaru. My name’s Hikaru.” He smiled, a charming crooked smirk.

Sulu’s smile infected him. He couldn’t help but beam back as he held Sulu’s hand, grasping it with both of his hands, and replied, “My name is Ben.” He felt like his voice sounded weird coming out of his mouth, and inside his head, he was overthinking everything, feeling that every one of his actions was somehow cringe-worthy.

Sulu laughed quietly and looked down at his feet, then back up to Ben. “It’s really nice to meet you, Ben.”

There was a spark in his eyes when he said this, and it soaked into Ben’s heart, making him feel alive, joyful…and terrified. “It’s really really nice to meet you too, Hikaru.” Ben swallowed and let a smile pour out over his face.

And in that moment, an eternity seemed to pass in the world spinning around them. Yet between the two of them-- hands held, eyes locked-- time seemed to stop in that perfect moment.

And when the moment dissolved, it left them feeling bewildered, surprised, and somewhat in unspoken awe of their overwhelming internal chaos in that moment. They pulled their hands away, clearing their throats awkwardly and trying to contain the crimson hue creeping across their cheeks.

A moment of silence, and then Ben’s voice. “So, ahh…” he hesitated, then gestured at Sulu. “You like plants too, huh?”

“That I do,” Sulu laughed. They both gravitated over toward Gertrude, admiring the great plant, impressive even when sick. They leaned onto the lap counter, resting on their elbows.

And then they talked. For hours. They talked about plants, about Gertrude, about Starfleet, life as a cadet, more about plants…. They laughed and laughed, and their hearts were lighter than air.

And then panic snapped into Sulu’s mind.

“Crap, what time is it?” he suddenly said, placing his hand on Ben’s shoulder.

He rolled up his lab coat sleeve and checked is watch. “14:47. Is…everything alright?”

“Shit,” Sulu took a deep breath, running his hands through his hair. “I have a flight exam in 10 minutes.” He started to run out the exit without thinking, the doors sliding open as he approached them. He paused and eagerly turned back to Ben.

"Saturday morning? Can I stop by again? Will you be here?"

"I can be," Ben said, smiling, holding his clipboard to his chest.

Sulu paused for a moment, beaming at Ben. "Excellent" he said, his face lighting up. "I’ll see you then, then.” Their gazes rested on each other for a moment. Sulu pulled away to regard his plant. “See you Saturday, Gerty," he waved to it, then he turned and rushed out the door, failing to suppress the huge smile that ran across his face.

Sulu jogged down the hallway, his face glowing from within. Something boiled over inside him and manifested itself as a little twirl and a giggle, as he beamed at the world around him. His mind was everywhere. Then panic hit him again as he passed a clock in the campus courtyard, and he picked up his pace, sprinting to class, running over drills in his head that he didn't get to practice again this afternoon. He had planned a couple of hours in the lab before the exam to aid in his peace of mind, and now nerves churned in his stomach. Starfleet was not the place to risk being late, even by a minute, and he never let himself head to class so late… 

But he didn't regret any of this for a moment. As he raced across campus, he did not even notice the heat from the sun beating down on him, or the exhaustion beginning in his legs. He could feel only the warmth and light shining in his heart, and the sound of the man’s voice. Ben.

 

 

Back in the botany lab, Ben stood there, in awe, gawking at the now-closed lab doors that Sulu had just exited through. 

“Hikaru,” Ben said aloud, quietly, almost a whisper, letting the sound of his name roll over his lips. “Hikaru,” he said again, before a wide smile trickled over his face and he broke down into a quick twirl and softly smacked the clipboard onto his face, letting out a quiet, high-pitched squeal. He collapsed onto the nearest lab counter, burying his face in his hands and muttering a quiet and frank “fuck.”

Just as he did, the lab doors behind him slid open and his biology professor walked in, grabbing her white lab coat from a hook near the door and slipping it on. Ben spun around and stood up straight, nearly tossing his clipboard across the room in his feeble attempt to "act natural". 

“Uh, HI! …sir," Ben stumbled, running to pick up his clipboard from the floor.

“…Good afternoon,” she let out, slyly, like she knew something. She stopped and smirked at him, puzzled and amused, as he stiffly walked back over to his microscope and jammed his eye up against it. He fiddled with the gears and the slides, all the while with a huge grin on his face.

“Ahh, to be young and in love,” the professor said fondly, pouring herself a cup of coffee, taking a sip, and then setting to work as well.

 

 

The sun was starting to set over San Francisco, casting a golden-red glow across Starfleet campus. Students milled about the campus, their movements slow and exhausted at the end of a long day. Some were sprawled out on the grassy areas, studying, talking, laughing, and already beginning to prepare for the upcoming relaxation of the weekend.

The exam was finally finished, after hours of testing, and then waiting for the results. Sulu had gotten full marks. He was exhausted, satisfied, relieved, and content. But most of all, he was thinking about Ben, about their conversation, running it over and over again in his head, smiling to himself, thinking about Saturday morning. The day seemed surreal at this point, his thoughts misshapen from running over them again and again, rubbing them raw in his brain. But it was real, it had all happened. Sulu couldn’t get Ben’s face out of his head: his smile, the way his teeth showed when he grinned, the crinkle in the corner of his eyes…. Sulu’s lips split into another huge grin as he made his way to the cadet dorms.

He punched in the pass-code to his door and immediately flopped onto his bed. He felt the silent, unmoving acknowledgment from his plants, like an unspoken greeting. The sky had gone dark and moonlight was beginning to flood in through the window. Notes were still scattered around his room from last night. Sulu lay sprawled out on his back, then let out a deep sigh and smiled once more. 

"Guys,” he said to his small green companions scattered through the room. He laughed and shook his head. “You are not gonna believe the day I just had."


End file.
